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Monday, October 24, 2011

Testing MacBook Pro 13 "2.3 GHz Core i5" Thunderbolt "(early 2011)

Sandy Bridge processors with new
micro-architecture, Intel Graphics GPU HD 3000, a new O Thunderbolt: Apple has
pressed the accelerator pedal with his new MacBook Pro without the radical
change. The entry-level Core i5 finally happening after years of Core 2 Duo
without earning a penny.

The game
of seven errors

Very
clever man who could be distinguished from the first glance a MacBook 13
"Core i5 to a 2011 MacBook Pro 13" Core 2 Duo 2010 as the differences
are minimal. Same weight (2.04 kg), the same size (32.5 x22, 7x2, 41 cm), the
same profile: the two generations are essentially identical. One might note
that the finish of the aluminum is slightly different, the edges are slightly
less sharp than the hinge is a little firmer and this would be much the only
details, minute, having been modified. It's actually inside the bulk of the
work was done.

Above the
screen, Apple has revised its iSight, which is now called FaceTime camera. The
engineers at Cupertino
have not taken the good idea of ​​the MacBook Air of matching the
webcam to the screen, thus avoiding to lay your fingers every time you open the
hood. They have done so against the FaceTime camera records in HD 720p
(1280x720, encoding and decoding performed by the graphics chip).

This
webcam is a little more wide angle than the iSight: with FaceTime in full
screen, you can have a discussion on several front of the screen, the camera
captures the whole field. It takes a little more about the magenta than
previous versions, but deliver more saturated colors more realistic, has a much
better dive, and therefore provides a rather good overall quality - for a
webcam that is. The quality of discussions FaceTime will therefore greatly
improved, though of course your internet connection keeps pace (read: MacBook
Pro: an overview of FaceTime HD).

The
screen is the same: Apple has not seen fit to increase its standard definition
as it did on the MacBook Air. You will not find elsewhere no option "HD
screen" for models 13 ", which are also deprived of matte tiles. It
is rather unfortunate: the MacBook Pro 13" is still a bit away from the
rest of family, which offers these opportunities. Other external factors do not
change more, or almost: we see now, to the left of the port mini-DisplayPort, a
little lightning bolt logo.

Thunderbolt:
a port for later

Is that
this port is now called Thunderbolt, and is more than just a video output.
Thunderbolt is the trade name of a technology developed by Intel as the Light Peak
(read: Thunderbolt: why bother?). Apple has worked closely with its design, the
MacBook Pro are the first computers to use it: this is reminiscent of the iMac,
which was the first to integrate USB, another technology from Intel.

Thunderbolt
Performance

Thunderbolt
is twenty times faster than USB 2.0, 12 times faster than FireWire 800, and
even two times faster than USB 3.0, while being more versatile.

Thunderbolt
vehicle data to a PCI Express bus, and uses the Mini DisplayPort: it recalls
the Apple Display Connector, which was also pass data, audio and digital video
through a single cable. The cable Thunderbolt precisely consists of a pair of
beams copper so it allows data transmission in both directions up to 10 Gb / s,
and sends an electrical current of a power of 10 W. As FireWire before him,
Thunderbolt allows to chain 6 devices, including two high-resolution displays.
Compatible with USB, FireWire and Ethernet via adapters, and DVI, VGA and HDMI,
Thunderbolt is a port promoted by Apple as an ideal for the transmission of
video.

The
standard configuration Thunderbolt according to Apple. There is no doubt that
with its democratization, this connector will find other applications. In this
configuration and with 2m cable, MacBook Pro and Promise Bay R6 communicate to
700 Mb / s, bay and screen communicate to 900 Mb / s.

The
illustration used to highlight Thunderbolt is no mystery: Apple thinks this new
connector is ideal for filmmakers who will be able to be a very powerful mobile
studio. Back behind a desk, they can connect a large screen and storage
solution on a single cable. The few products Thunderbolt announced at Promise
or LaCie, are firmly aimed at professionals, including video, a major consumer
of bandwidth. Apple engineers estimate that a MacBook Pro connected to a
Promise Bay R4 or R6 to edit four simultaneous HD streams (the graphics card is
the only limit). Only thus lack, at present, compatible devices.

Processor
and graphics card: Finally the new

The
previous generation MacBook Pro 13 "remained at Core 2 Duo without an
agreement allowing Nvidia to develop chipsets for Intel Core iX. The graphics
performance of Intel becoming passable, Apple eventually gave up his partner to
move Sandy Bridge processors.

The first
13 "MacBook Pro uses an Intel Core i5" Sandy Bridge
"2410M clocked at 2.3 GHz. This generation of processor uses a new
microarchitecture that includes processor cores, graphics cores, cache and
memory controller on the same chip for space savings and improved performance.
The i5-2410M has two physical cores: with Hyper Threading, it has four logical
cores. If it is running at 2.3 GHz, it can reach up to 2 , 9 GHz on a single
heart with Turbo Boost. This technology has also been updated: it now goes up
to the maximum frequency in smaller increments, which allows to adapt the best
CPU frequency needs. Once this maximum frequency is reached, the Turbo Boost
can be switched on longer than before.

Two
physical cores, that makes four logical cores. Few applications still take
part, but when it does (here with Handbrake), that fuel!

The Core
i5-2410 incorporates an Intel graphics chip HD 3000 Graphics, a trademark
designating the various generic integrated graphics solutions from Intel. That
used by the processor of the MacBook Pro entry level is not the most efficient:
it is capped at a maximum rate of 1.2 GHz (1.3 GHz against variation in its
fastest), and takes 384 MB memory on the RAM of the computer. This chip is not
the most efficient that we can find to play, but it draws its game in encoding
/ decoding HD streams, and is able to adjust its frequency to save power. The
Intel Graphics HD 3000 is supposed to be OpenCL compatible, but can not run any
test OpenCL it - fortunately, this is not the missing benches.